A Labour MP has sponsored a Private Member's Bill which would legally oblige company directors to ensure their business complies with all health and safety law.

If Stephen Hepburn's Bill becomes law, it will result in company directors facing corporate manslaughter charges in the case of a death in the workplace.

At present, the Health and Safety Executive can bring a criminal prosecution against a company which fails to carry out a duty imposed by statute or under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The history of corporate manslaughter dates back to the Zeebrugge ferry disaster in 1987.

Although the case brought by the Government against P&0 Ferries collapsed, corporate killing became an admissible crime in English courts for the first time.

Since then only a handful of convictions, mainly against very small businesses, have been secured.

Existing law dictates that companies can only be brought to trial if there is an individual within the organisation who can be identified as the ' controlling mind'.

The controlling mind is most commonly a senior director with authority over the area in which an incident has occurred.

This individual has to be proven to be negligent in order for the company to be convicted of corporate manslaughter.

Identifying the 'controlling mind' and proving that person's negligence has been the major stumbling block in past cases.

Following the Southall train crash in July 1999, manslaughter charges against Great Western Trains had to be dropped because no such person could be found.

Charges against the train's driver were also dropped and the company instead was convicted of health and safety offences and fined £ 1.5 million.

Irwin Mitchell associate Alida Coates said: "Irwin Mitchell has instructed on numerous cases concerning injury and death in the workplace and it is clearly not just the businesses who suffer in terms of reputation and revenue.

"Workplace incidents have a long term impact both physical and psychological on the family, friends and colleagues left behind to cope.

"One of my clients lost her husband in June 2001, after he became trapped by the hydraulic mechanism of the rear tailgate of his heavy goods vehicle whilst ejecting rubbish into a land fill site, and was crushed to death.

It is alleged that the workforce of the defendant company, a national waste disposal company, routinely used unsafe practices.

"The company eventually pleaded guilty and was convicted of implementing an unsafe system of work by the HSE and fined £30,000 in October 2003.

The death of this man occurred just weeks before his daughter's wedding and has caused untold suffering to his wife and family."